Article holding stand



Aug. 12, 1941. F. J. CLACK ARTICLE HOLDING STAND Fil ed Sept. 3, 1940 2Sheets-Sheet l Inventor 501w; Jwe fl/awf A ttorney Aug. 12, 1941. F, J,CLACK 7 2,252,619

ARTICLE HOLDING STAND Filed Sept.. 3, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Iiwentor B;@Mm

A itomey Patented Aug. 12, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ARTICLEHOLDING STAND 1 Frances Jane Clack, Albuquerque, N. Mex. ApplicationSeptember 3, 1940, Serial No. 355,225

(onus-159) 1 Claim.

This invention relates to a stand for holding books, files and otherobjects, the general object of the invention being to provide a standformed of upper and lower sections with the lower end of the uppersection carrying a support for rotatably connecting the lower end of theupper section to the upper end of the lower section, and means forfrictionally holding the upper section in any one of a number ofdifferent positions so that the upper section with the articles thereonwill remain in the position to which it has been adjusted until it hasbeen forcibly moved to another position and then the parts will remainin this other position until the upper portion of the stand has beenforcibly moved to either another position or to its first position.

This invention also consists in certain other features of constructionand in the combination and arrangement of the several parts to behereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawingsand specifically pointed out in the appended claim.

In describing the invention in detail, reference will be had to theaccompanying drawings wherein like characters denote like orcorresponding parts throughout the several views, and in which:

Figure 1 is an elevational view of the improved stand.

Figure 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a bottom plan view of the upper section with the articlesupporting member connected to its upper end.

Figure 4 is a top plan view of the lower section attached to thebase atits lower end.

Figure 5 is a view of two of the devices placed in alignment with eachother and showing how they can be turned in either direction in rotarymovement.

Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 4 but showing a modification.

In these views the numeral I indicates a base which is provided with ahole 2 so that the base can be fastened to a floor or other flat surfaceby suitable fastening means and the numeral 2 indicates a tubularupright which forms the lower section of a standard. The upper sectionof the standard is shown at 3 and has a reduced part 4 at its lowerportion for fitting in the upper portion of the part 2. A circularflange 5 is formed on the upper end of the section 2 and a similarflange 6 is formed on an intermediate part of the section 3 with thereduced part 4 depending from the center of the flanged part. Theadjacent faces of the flanges 5 and 6 are formed with the substantiallysemi-spherical recesses I therein for receiving the spherical members 8which are made similar to ball-bearings. If two of the spherical membersare used then the recesses for receiving such members are placeddiametrically opposite each other as shown in Figures 3 and 4 but if twopairs of spherical members are to be used then the recesses in eachflange are formed as shown at I in Figure 6, a flange of thisarrangement being shown at 5' in Figure 6 and the balls or sphericalmembers are shown at 8'.

As will be seen the balls or spherical members act as detent means forholding the upper section in adjusted position but by forcibly exertinga rotary movement to the upper section or the supporting shelf or member[0 connected with the top of the upper section, the upper section can berotated as this force will cause the upper flange to ride over thespherical members so that the upper section can be easily turned andthen when the upper section has made a half turn the balls will re-enterthe recesses and thus the upper section is held in this new positionwhich is a half turn from the old position.

Of course, if the arrangement shown in Figure 6 is used then the uppersection with its shelf can be adjusted to any one of four positions.

This shelf slopes from one side edge to its other so that a book or thelike placed thereon can be readily seen by one standing adjacent the lowedge of the shelf and it may be provided with the flanges l2 to hold theobjects thereon and reinforcing webs l3 connect the bottom of the shelfwith the upper end of the upper section 3.

A plurality of these devices can be used for separating part of a roomfrom another part as shown in Figure 5. Thus when a person in one partof a room wishes to look at a book, for instance, on one of the deviceshe can partly rotate the upper portion of the device to bring the bookto a position where he can readily see the same with the book slopingtoward him. Then if a person in the other part of the room wishes tolook at this book it would simply be necessary for him to turn thedevice back to its original position and thus the book will slope towardthe second person. In this way it is not necessary for one person toenter that part of the room occupied by clerks, for instance, and whichpart occupied by the clerks is divided off from the rest of the room bya plurality of these devices and yet a clerk in his part of the room ora person in the other part of the room can readily turn the device sothat they can see books or other objects thereon.

This invention is very advantageous for use in handling the large taxrolls of a county or the like. As is well known these books are veryheavy and they are often examined and with these devices it is notnecessary to take the books or rolls from the stand as it is simplynecessary to turn the stand so that a lawyer or other person can readilysee the roll without entering the clerks ofiice. and the clerk in theoffice, which is divided from the public space by these devices, canreadily turn the stand back to see the roll without leaving the oflicespace and without lifting the roll or book.

It is thought from the foregoing description that the advantages andnovel features of the invention will be readily apparent.

It is to be'understood that changes may be made in the construction andin the combination and arrangement of the'several parts provided thatsuch changes fall within the scope of the appended claim. v

Having described the invention, claimed as'new is:

What is A stand of the class described comprising a base, a standardrising from the base, a shelf at the upper end of the standard, saidstandard being composed of upper and lower sections, one of the sectionshaving a socket therein and the other section having a projectionforming a continuation thereof which rotatably fits in the socket,horizontal flanges connected with the adjacent ends of the two sections,the lower face of the flange of the upper section contacting directlythe upper face of the flange of the lower section, the abutting faces ofsaid flanges having semi-spherical recesses therein, said recesses beingarranged in pairs with a recess of one pair being diametrically oppositethe other recess of said pair and balls engaging the recesses, saidballs being seated in the recesses of the lower flange and yieldinglyholding the upper flange against rotary movement by engaging the recesses in the upper flange and said balls also acting as ball bearingswhen the upper section is being rotated, those portions of the recessedsurfaces of the flanges between the recesses being smooth.

FRANCES JANE CLACK.

